Oil Pressure Warning Poop

[kaizr]

Saturday afternoon I got my oil changed at a shop a block from my house. Havoline filter and Chevron synthetic oil.

Thursday afternoon leaving work (have driven maybe 30 miles since oil change) I got about 200 feet when the Oil Pressure Warning came on. I thought I had read this was due to a lose cap or some similar fault. Checked oil levels, looked good. Turned on again, no light, drove 200 feet, light came on again. Drove 4 miles home, no problem. Turned car on this morning, no light, drove a bit, light on again. Drove the 4 miles to work.

No audible mechanical problems, no issue with driving thus far. It is about 60 degrees where I live so no issue with cold weather causing engine problems. I did park in a garage on Thursday that had a downslope to exit, could have caused unsettling of levels in engine.

After work today I am going to swing by the shop that changed my oil and hope they have a pressure gauge to get my temperature and pressure numbers (they are not a full shop, so we'll see how that goes).

I don't know a lot and I'm not exceedingly experience mechanically, Sounds like I have a few options:

1) Replace oil pressure sensor which is difficult to get to, down by the engine near the oil filter location, approximately x minutes and 9 dollars.

2) Clean out and replace oil screen, approximately 400 hours since I have to remove the engine, and 30 dollars.

3) My car is seriously sludged up and needs major mechanical work, one billion dollars.

I live in New Orleans; this weekend is the Super Bowl and next week and after is Mardi Gras. I do not have time to take care of any serious mechanical problem nor do I have money to pay for major mechanical work.

Are my three above options correct? Any other advice?

Help!

[Charles.waite]

Saturday afternoon I got my oil changed at a shop a block from my house. Havoline filter and Chevron synthetic oil.

Thursday afternoon leaving work (have driven maybe 30 miles since oil change) I got about 200 feet when the Oil Pressure Warning came on. I thought I had read this was due to a lose cap or some similar fault. Checked oil levels, looked good. Turned on again, no light, drove 200 feet, light came on again. Drove 4 miles home, no problem. Turned car on this morning, no light, drove a bit, light on again. Drove the 4 miles to work.

No audible mechanical problems, no issue with driving thus far. It is about 60 degrees where I live so no issue with cold weather causing engine problems. I did park in a garage on Thursday that had a downslope to exit, could have caused unsettling of levels in engine.

After work today I am going to swing by the shop that changed my oil and hope they have a pressure gauge to get my temperature and pressure numbers (they are not a full shop, so we'll see how that goes).

I don't know a lot and I'm not exceedingly experience mechanically, Sounds like I have a few options:

1) Replace oil pressure sensor which is difficult to get to, down by the engine near the oil filter location, approximately x minutes and 9 dollars.

2) Clean out and replace oil screen, approximately 400 hours since I have to remove the engine, and 30 dollars.

3) My car is seriously sludged up and needs major mechanical work, one billion dollars.

I live in New Orleans; this weekend is the Super Bowl and next week and after is Mardi Gras. I do not have time to take care of any serious mechanical problem nor do I have money to pay for major mechanical work.

Are my three above options correct? Any other advice?

Help!

Option 3 for a billion Alex.


But seriously, I would put my money on a clogged screen. You don't need to remove the engine however, simply drop the pan (usually requires loosening of subframe and whatnot for it to clear) and replace the screen from there. If the pan is super sludgy then you should clean it out really well and plan on doing a treatment with AutoRX or something. Sounds like the Oh-Shit light might be trying to tell you you've got an oil pressure issue. IIRC it only is active above 2000 rpms or something hence why its not going off at idle.

[widgget]

LOL
"I will be shit faced for the next two weeks and don't have time or money to fix my car"

Pound a hand grenade for me while your on Bourbon St.!

[themadscientist]

If there's no audible noises then I would lean towards a bad pressure sensor/sending unit. Just have them put a gauge on it and see what it does.

[h82loze]

1. Oil pressure sensor is cheap in both terms of cost of the part and labor to change it. The hardest part about changing it is getting the wire clip off, and that's not even that hard. Should take maybe 10-15 minutes to replace.

2. If the pickup tube is clogged, you will probably get charged a lot to get it replaced. As charles stated, the engine does not have to come out. But the subframe has to be lowered to get the oil pan off. There are several DIY threads on the net so you can get an idea of what is involved. The shop will probably quote you 8 hours of labor to change the pickup. It shouldn't take that long, but I think stuff like alldata list it as an 8 hour job.

3. Probably is sludged up, but if you can get the pickup tube cleaned you'll be able to start getting the rest of the engine cleaned up by choosing whatever engine flush method you so desire. But you'll probably want to replace the turbo feed line and turbo return line.

Start researching, there are a ton of threads on oil sludge. Also do a search for BG Dynamic Engine Flush. That is the method that Audi used in the TSB that covers the engine sludge issue.

Also, as an FYI when you get your oil pressure readings from the shop:
-Oil temp should be approx 80 C (176 F) when tested
-Idle 1.0 bar (14.5 PSI)
-3000 RPM 3.5-4.5 bar (50.76-65.27 PSI)

[kaizr]

UPDATE:

Called the shop that did the oil change. They said they did not have an oil pressure gauge. Called the garage I prefer for service, said they would hook car up to computer to run diagnostic. Did not seem to understand or have oil pressure gauge, would cost ~1 hour labor.

Did not test oil pressure.

Have driving about 12 miles since original post: no odd startup, no extended warm up period, no burning oil smell, no noise or knocking during operation. Everything seems to be normal. Except for the warning light.

Found this:

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par...715958_0_8537_

If I replace that part (if it's the correct one) am I at least figuring out whether or not +1 is my problem?

[themadscientist]

UPDATE:

Called the shop that did the oil change. They said they did not have an oil pressure gauge. Called the garage I prefer for service, said they would hook car up to computer to run diagnostic. Did not seem to understand or have oil pressure gauge, would cost ~1 hour labor.

Did not test oil pressure.

Have driving about 12 miles since original post: no odd startup, no extended warm up period, no burning oil smell, no noise or knocking during operation. Everything seems to be normal. Except for the warning light.

Found this:

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par...715958_0_8537_

If I replace that part (if it's the correct one) am I at least figuring out whether or not +1 is my problem?

What's +1?

The switch is cheap and easy, I would do it.

[kaizr]

oops, should have been #1, replace my oil pressure sensor/switch with the linked item. Want to make sure it's the correct piece.

[Charles.waite]

What's +1?

The switch is cheap and easy, I would do it.

Agreed. I would do it just to rule it out as a sensor issue. If the new sensor doesnt fix it, then I wouldn't even bother testing the oil pressure, I'd have them just drop the pan and replace the oil pickup tube and clean up the pan.

I'm not sure on the exact procedure to replace the switch though.

[themadscientist]

oops, should have been #1, replace my oil pressure sensor/switch with the linked item. Want to make sure it's the correct piece.

Yep, that's it.

[h82loze]

Like I said, the oil pressure sensor is a quick and easy job. You just need a ratchet and a 24mm deep socket. The hard part will be getting the wire clip off. If I remember correctly, you just have to use a small screwdriver or something and push down on the clip. The problem is that it may not be facing outward. When I installed my oil pressure gauge, I just cut the wire because I needed to lengthen it anyway to reach its new location. Good thing too, because the clip was facing toward the engine and would've been pretty difficult to take off without cutting the wire.

Hope you just have a bad pressure sensor, but with all the problems with sludge I wouldn't hold my breath. Good luck

[h82loze]

Also, ECS and Europaparts both have that sensor for cheaper and are vendors on this site. So kind of nice to support them.